Another Anike link...
Here's another link brought to me by another Anikean... Looks like we're getting post-show publisity, people... Cheers!
posted by Alang at 9:12 PM
0 comments
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Monday, January 29, 2007
Backstage and preparatory shots... The untold story!
In any theater presentation, the audience is often awed and held in utter fascination by the going-ons of the stage. However, not many realise that what has been put on stage was only a small fraction of the effort that has been going on backstage... It is not unlike a thread in a well-woven cloth: people see the cloth, but rarely appreciate the strands of thread that give it substance. Here is a dedication to the untold story of Anike...
The playwright, Wong Phui Nam, talking to our makeup artist, Henry, who also plays the Hanger-on. In the background is Jin-jin (Yasmine) while Sir Jayaram is in the makeup chair. This photo was taken in USM.
Setting up the stage at Soka-Gakkai Malaysia hall in KL. The poles were the foundation for the huge flags that became the backdrop for the show. Fully extended, these were nearly 10 feet tall.
My daughter D-Ha, teasing out the creases of the huge flags that were to become the backdrop for the Corrupt Kingdom...
My wife Maiza with the selection of weapons that were used in Anike. From left to right: Queen Wanang Seri's knife (with a small jar of stage blood near it), the "Sheena Monterio" sword - unused, Anike's dagger (unsheathed and sheathed), the Hanger-on's parang, a backup keris for King Maniaka, the 2nd guard's parang, 2 backup kerises, Nadim's royal keris, the Guard's sundang, the Bendahara's keris and the Messenger's sword (only the scabbard is visible). King Maniaka's actual keris is slightly visible on the chair to Maiza's right, with his helmet.
Me and wife with Jayaram Menon, who plays King Maniaka, the corrupt sovereign in Wong Phui Nam's Anike. Maniaka's costume was the most elaborate, and he became a favourite of audiences for post-show photo shoots! 
Maiza with our Assistant Director Fadzrina and her sister Fariza, who plays Queen Wanang Seri. Although her role is minimal, her costume remains one of the most elaborate on the set.
More photos of the production will be posted as I receive them... So send them in, QUICK!
posted by Alang at 7:03 PM
4 comments
Comment on Anike in KL (sent in to me by email)
I received this in my inbox today from one of the Anikeans, by "Cassandra"...
Good Job Cape Poetics Penang!
Thu, Jan 25 2007 11:46:49
The whole show was great. There are some characters who were a bit corny, maybe you should look into that because it was almost perfect. The sisterly love between Anike and Yasmine, it was just not there. Bendahara was flat, we could see that he's a young chap acting some like an old person. Maniaka was great, really love his acting, i can see the king he is and the huge transition from an arrogant king to a failure king he is...wow! Himanshu aka Tok Seth, congratulation! Overall i've enjoyed it, hope you would bring more of cape poetic's production to KL.
posted by Cassandra
Here's another, more detailed one by "Drowmage"...
The Drowmage decided to watch the play “Anike” last Saturday at Wisma Kebudayaan SGM (Sokka-Gakkai Malaysia), not knowing what to expect, considering the last time the Drowmage had watched a play was about 2 years ago, back in Pearl Isle.
Delayed by about 10 - 15 minutes, the play soon got off to a rocky start. Or, in the Drowmage’s own perspective, a dull start. The two female central characters, Yasmine and Anike, were overdramatic, and Yasmine (played by Saw Jin Jin) was too soft spoken in the beginning. Anike (played by May Kung), on the other hand, had projected her voice enough, but seemed to over-emphasized every single word in a rather monotonous display. Both girls did not seem to deliver their lines with ease, making one wonder if they were reciting a poem instead of acting.
At this point, I begin to remember a joke about William Shatner’s acting in “Star Trek”.
Although the emcee had requested for everyone to switch off their handphones, it surprises me how many completely kiasu people there who don’t pay heed to this request. A handphone had the audacity to ring in the middle of this performance.
The overdramatic pronunciations soon begin to irritate me - and I start comparing this to the movie version of Shakespeare’s “Merchant in Venice” - where Ralph Fiennes spouts the famous “All the world’s a stage” quote, with such flow and finesse.
Yasmine’s voice and performance begins to pick up a bit later, when she tries to talk Anike out of going against the king’s edict. She becomes more confident with her lines, delivering them with better conviction, and the play begins to pick up at this point.
Same handphone rings again - and I recognize the ringtone as “Auld Lang Syne”. The owner of the phone quickly cancelled the call, or switch off the phone. Must have been the latter, because I didn’t hear a peep out of the phone after that.
After Anike has declared her intention to cut down her brother’s body from the tree, and perform a proper burial for it, the two girls hug each other and they soon leave the scene. Enter the Chorus elder, played by Sreekala Nambiar, who tells the audience a little background story to the events which led up to the two girls’ discussion.
Jayaram Menon soon comes onstage as Maniaka, the Raja (King). The minute he delivered his first lines, and cast a searing look at the audience, I swear I nearly cowered in seat there and then. (That’s what I call acting - to be able to draw your audience into the scene - to bring a suspension of disbelief that you no longer feel that you are in the hall watching a play, but that you are in the scene itself.)
The row in front of me had this 2 people, a guy and a girl, in probably their early 20s. They kept snickering through the play. What’s ironic was that they were sitting in the ‘By Invitations only’ seats. Friends of the cast? Perhaps they found their friend’s acting funny? I suppress my irritation here, out of courtesy.
The messenger (Aliakbar Campwala), who is also the guard in charge of keeping watch on Sirat’s body approaches the king in a way which made me wonder (and judging by the weak laughs from the audience) - if he was meant to be the comic relief - and as the dialogue progressed, I came to the conclusion… yes, he was the comic relief. Too bad he didn’t establish his presence as that in the beginning.
(Criticisms aside, I had to remind myself that the play was, after all, being spoken in verse, having been adapted from a poem. Nothing’s perfect in this world.)
The sound effects was not too bad, where it was required, but I kept missing some of the more important lines or words being delivered, as to the microphones which were placed at the bottom of the stage were not picking up the actors’ voices very well. The problem, I conceived, was due to the speech microphones that had been set up, which were normally used for presentations, speeches, etc. Later when I spoke to the director, Himanshu, and the sound engineer, Ashwin, they told me that they had hoped to get what was termed “Shotgun mikes”, which was used to pick up sounds from a further distance, without causing huge amounts of feedback.
The costumes were impressive, and I have to hand it to the designer, Mohammad Hanif. Although I realized in the beginning that the Rajah’s regal costume reminded me of Chow Yun Fatt’s armour in the recent “Curse of the Golden Flower”; when I mentioned this to Hanif after the show, he insisted that he had come up with the designs way before “Curse” started their production. I couldn’t help but joke, “So Zhang Yimou stole the designs from you?” amidst the laughter.
Anike and Yasmine come onstage to face the Raja for their crimes, and he sentences Anike to a dark and dreary cave filled with snakes. Again, their performance give me goosebumps.
Guy in front keeps shaking his legs throughout the play. Parents don’t seem to teach their kids manners anymore, I believe. I resist the urge to kick his chair. Manners, you see.
Intermission is announced after this scene, and I end up talking to Wong Pui Nam’s publisher from Maya Press, who gives me a free copy of the published “Anike”. Cheers to Maya Press!
Intermission ends, and we proceed with Act 2.
Here we finally see Nadim, the Raja’s son, entering the room and confronting his father for the punishment against Anike. Played by Lim Yao-Han, the character sounds instead like an American teenager. Remember Alex Pettyfer in “Stormbreaker”? His mouth hardly moves and he seems rather wooden. His voice did not project AT ALL - and with that, and the rather un-expressive acting, Nadim ends up looking like a defiant teenage brat who wants things his way, instead of a son who stands up for his beliefs and the woman he loves. The Drowmage doubts that this was what Wong Pui Nam was trying to express in the poem.
Himanshu Bhatt, the director, makes a cameo appearance in the play as the prophetic ‘Tok Seth’, a seer. His performance was good as the mad seer, especially when he goes all prophetic and begins telling the cruel king about the pain and suffering he will endure for the punishment he has placed on his subject.
The only other gripe I have were pauses in between the scenes, which took too long. However, at the end of the day, the three actors which held the play up were Himanshu, Jayaram and Sreekala, with very clear and precise pronunciation; and a great performance.
Jayaram had me caught up in a very dramatic scene, when he discovers his son dead after Anike has hung herself. Just as he was howling in anguish, the irritating duo in front of me began snickering and chortling. Until now, the Drowmage is still trying to understand which part of the jungle did the two of them crawl out from.
After the play, I cornered the irritating duo. “Hi there.”
They paused and looked at me, smiling.
“I was just curious, what was funny about the play?” I asked in a nice tone. I am, after all, really curious. And nice.
They giggled, and shot nervous looks at each other as I pressed on. “No, really, I’m curious to know. What was so funny about the play? You seem to be enjoying it and laughing, and I was wondering if I may have missed something there. After all, I didn’t find it funny.”
They giggled again, and the girl spoke up in badly-accented English, “The words are very funny!” and they both started giggling again. That’s starting to chafe at my nerves.
“I see… well, I didn’t find it funny, you see,” I smiled at them. “Thanks anyway, cheers.”
Invited guests?? Or merely freeloaders with no appreciation of the arts? You decide.
A friend did mention that it’s better if a play, especially a dramatic one, has a small turnout of intellectuals or appreciative audience, rather than a full house of
Drowmage speaks : The review above is a critical opinion of the Drowmage, with no intention of harming anyone’s feelings. In terms of the sound quality, the Drowmage was, after all, sitting in the 5th row from the front; imagine the poor fellows who had to pay for their tickets and were sitting 10 rows all the way to the back.
For the original comment, please go here.
Well, there u have it! Let's hope that this will be grounds for improvement!
Good Job Cape Poetics Penang!
Thu, Jan 25 2007 11:46:49
The whole show was great. There are some characters who were a bit corny, maybe you should look into that because it was almost perfect. The sisterly love between Anike and Yasmine, it was just not there. Bendahara was flat, we could see that he's a young chap acting some like an old person. Maniaka was great, really love his acting, i can see the king he is and the huge transition from an arrogant king to a failure king he is...wow! Himanshu aka Tok Seth, congratulation! Overall i've enjoyed it, hope you would bring more of cape poetic's production to KL.
posted by Cassandra
Here's another, more detailed one by "Drowmage"...
The Drowmage decided to watch the play “Anike” last Saturday at Wisma Kebudayaan SGM (Sokka-Gakkai Malaysia), not knowing what to expect, considering the last time the Drowmage had watched a play was about 2 years ago, back in Pearl Isle.
Delayed by about 10 - 15 minutes, the play soon got off to a rocky start. Or, in the Drowmage’s own perspective, a dull start. The two female central characters, Yasmine and Anike, were overdramatic, and Yasmine (played by Saw Jin Jin) was too soft spoken in the beginning. Anike (played by May Kung), on the other hand, had projected her voice enough, but seemed to over-emphasized every single word in a rather monotonous display. Both girls did not seem to deliver their lines with ease, making one wonder if they were reciting a poem instead of acting.
At this point, I begin to remember a joke about William Shatner’s acting in “Star Trek”.
Although the emcee had requested for everyone to switch off their handphones, it surprises me how many completely kiasu people there who don’t pay heed to this request. A handphone had the audacity to ring in the middle of this performance.
The overdramatic pronunciations soon begin to irritate me - and I start comparing this to the movie version of Shakespeare’s “Merchant in Venice” - where Ralph Fiennes spouts the famous “All the world’s a stage” quote, with such flow and finesse.
Yasmine’s voice and performance begins to pick up a bit later, when she tries to talk Anike out of going against the king’s edict. She becomes more confident with her lines, delivering them with better conviction, and the play begins to pick up at this point.
Same handphone rings again - and I recognize the ringtone as “Auld Lang Syne”. The owner of the phone quickly cancelled the call, or switch off the phone. Must have been the latter, because I didn’t hear a peep out of the phone after that.
After Anike has declared her intention to cut down her brother’s body from the tree, and perform a proper burial for it, the two girls hug each other and they soon leave the scene. Enter the Chorus elder, played by Sreekala Nambiar, who tells the audience a little background story to the events which led up to the two girls’ discussion.
Jayaram Menon soon comes onstage as Maniaka, the Raja (King). The minute he delivered his first lines, and cast a searing look at the audience, I swear I nearly cowered in seat there and then. (That’s what I call acting - to be able to draw your audience into the scene - to bring a suspension of disbelief that you no longer feel that you are in the hall watching a play, but that you are in the scene itself.)
The row in front of me had this 2 people, a guy and a girl, in probably their early 20s. They kept snickering through the play. What’s ironic was that they were sitting in the ‘By Invitations only’ seats. Friends of the cast? Perhaps they found their friend’s acting funny? I suppress my irritation here, out of courtesy.
The messenger (Aliakbar Campwala), who is also the guard in charge of keeping watch on Sirat’s body approaches the king in a way which made me wonder (and judging by the weak laughs from the audience) - if he was meant to be the comic relief - and as the dialogue progressed, I came to the conclusion… yes, he was the comic relief. Too bad he didn’t establish his presence as that in the beginning.
(Criticisms aside, I had to remind myself that the play was, after all, being spoken in verse, having been adapted from a poem. Nothing’s perfect in this world.)
The sound effects was not too bad, where it was required, but I kept missing some of the more important lines or words being delivered, as to the microphones which were placed at the bottom of the stage were not picking up the actors’ voices very well. The problem, I conceived, was due to the speech microphones that had been set up, which were normally used for presentations, speeches, etc. Later when I spoke to the director, Himanshu, and the sound engineer, Ashwin, they told me that they had hoped to get what was termed “Shotgun mikes”, which was used to pick up sounds from a further distance, without causing huge amounts of feedback.
The costumes were impressive, and I have to hand it to the designer, Mohammad Hanif. Although I realized in the beginning that the Rajah’s regal costume reminded me of Chow Yun Fatt’s armour in the recent “Curse of the Golden Flower”; when I mentioned this to Hanif after the show, he insisted that he had come up with the designs way before “Curse” started their production. I couldn’t help but joke, “So Zhang Yimou stole the designs from you?” amidst the laughter.
Anike and Yasmine come onstage to face the Raja for their crimes, and he sentences Anike to a dark and dreary cave filled with snakes. Again, their performance give me goosebumps.
Guy in front keeps shaking his legs throughout the play. Parents don’t seem to teach their kids manners anymore, I believe. I resist the urge to kick his chair. Manners, you see.
Intermission is announced after this scene, and I end up talking to Wong Pui Nam’s publisher from Maya Press, who gives me a free copy of the published “Anike”. Cheers to Maya Press!
Intermission ends, and we proceed with Act 2.
Here we finally see Nadim, the Raja’s son, entering the room and confronting his father for the punishment against Anike. Played by Lim Yao-Han, the character sounds instead like an American teenager. Remember Alex Pettyfer in “Stormbreaker”? His mouth hardly moves and he seems rather wooden. His voice did not project AT ALL - and with that, and the rather un-expressive acting, Nadim ends up looking like a defiant teenage brat who wants things his way, instead of a son who stands up for his beliefs and the woman he loves. The Drowmage doubts that this was what Wong Pui Nam was trying to express in the poem.
Himanshu Bhatt, the director, makes a cameo appearance in the play as the prophetic ‘Tok Seth’, a seer. His performance was good as the mad seer, especially when he goes all prophetic and begins telling the cruel king about the pain and suffering he will endure for the punishment he has placed on his subject.
The only other gripe I have were pauses in between the scenes, which took too long. However, at the end of the day, the three actors which held the play up were Himanshu, Jayaram and Sreekala, with very clear and precise pronunciation; and a great performance.
Jayaram had me caught up in a very dramatic scene, when he discovers his son dead after Anike has hung herself. Just as he was howling in anguish, the irritating duo in front of me began snickering and chortling. Until now, the Drowmage is still trying to understand which part of the jungle did the two of them crawl out from.
After the play, I cornered the irritating duo. “Hi there.”
They paused and looked at me, smiling.
“I was just curious, what was funny about the play?” I asked in a nice tone. I am, after all, really curious. And nice.
They giggled, and shot nervous looks at each other as I pressed on. “No, really, I’m curious to know. What was so funny about the play? You seem to be enjoying it and laughing, and I was wondering if I may have missed something there. After all, I didn’t find it funny.”
They giggled again, and the girl spoke up in badly-accented English, “The words are very funny!” and they both started giggling again. That’s starting to chafe at my nerves.
“I see… well, I didn’t find it funny, you see,” I smiled at them. “Thanks anyway, cheers.”
Invited guests?? Or merely freeloaders with no appreciation of the arts? You decide.
A friend did mention that it’s better if a play, especially a dramatic one, has a small turnout of intellectuals or appreciative audience, rather than a full house of
Drowmage speaks : The review above is a critical opinion of the Drowmage, with no intention of harming anyone’s feelings. In terms of the sound quality, the Drowmage was, after all, sitting in the 5th row from the front; imagine the poor fellows who had to pay for their tickets and were sitting 10 rows all the way to the back.
For the original comment, please go here.
Well, there u have it! Let's hope that this will be grounds for improvement!
posted by Alang at 6:03 PM
0 comments
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Anike in Star Hill.... Part Two
Just got back from Star Hill for the first public performance of Anike... It was a blast, if I may say so! Well, anyway, we've been published in Kakiseni, so please feel free to browse. Next up is the show in Penang... this weekend!
I still have several modifications and functional repairs to be carried out on the set... it appeared that the type of cloth used was not really suitable for the task...
Anyway, Anikeans with photos, please email them to me ASAP so that we can all share in the glory of the Corrupt Kingdom!
I still have several modifications and functional repairs to be carried out on the set... it appeared that the type of cloth used was not really suitable for the task...
Anyway, Anikeans with photos, please email them to me ASAP so that we can all share in the glory of the Corrupt Kingdom!
posted by Alang at 7:44 PM
3 comments
Monday, January 15, 2007
Anike in Star Hill...
Well... Four more days to the BIG day... The Kingdom will be sending forth scouts to Star Hill on the 17th, consisting of the Seth, Ken and myself (hopefully)... We are to survey and try out the stage at SGM, prior to the arrival of the main force of Kingdom warriors, led by Tuanku himself on the 18th... I hope and pray that everything goes well for all of us...
I have been informed that the presentation of Anike will be judged by Kakiseni judges... I am still in a fog for the confusion that you have caused me... Oops! Wrong line! I'm still not clear about this... Anybody care to elaborate?
I have been informed that the presentation of Anike will be judged by Kakiseni judges... I am still in a fog for the confusion that you have caused me... Oops! Wrong line! I'm still not clear about this... Anybody care to elaborate?
posted by Alang at 11:17 PM
2 comments
Friday, January 12, 2007
Anike in Penang
Anike will be presented in Penang on the 26th and 27th of January 2007. The play will be hosted by Universiti Sains Malaysia and will be presented at the prestigious Dewan Budaya. Both shows will be on at 8.30pm, and tickets are available at RM10 and RM5 (student rate). For further information on the show, please contact 019-5664641 (Himanshu), 016-4953445 (Kala) or 04-6533888 ext 4126 (USM).
posted by Alang at 11:16 PM
2 comments
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
Finalised poster... (Hehehe.... U can comment, but as far as I know, it's already being printed!)
Here's the finalised poster design... I hope that this satisfies the majority of us in the Kingdom....
And here's my suggestion for da t-shirt design...
Cheers, people!
posted by Alang at 8:38 PM
0 comments
Wednesday, January 03, 2007
Comments from The Seth...
Here is what The Seth had to say about it... :P
Looks superb.
1. Let the exact wording be like this : The Gandhi Memorial Trust and the Soka Gakkai Malaysia present
"A PERFORMANCE BY CAPE POETICS" (okay)
2. Can you put "SUPPORTED BY MAYA PRESS"... ANYWHERE after the Title.
3. Can the outline of the hanging Sirat be more bold - can't see thru the black print.
Okay thanks. Great.
- Himanshu
Looks superb.
1. Let the exact wording be like this : The Gandhi Memorial Trust and the Soka Gakkai Malaysia present
"A PERFORMANCE BY CAPE POETICS" (okay)
2. Can you put "SUPPORTED BY MAYA PRESS"... ANYWHERE after the Title.
3. Can the outline of the hanging Sirat be more bold - can't see thru the black print.
Okay thanks. Great.
- Himanshu
posted by Alang at 7:00 PM
2 comments
Monday, January 01, 2007
Another idea for the 2007 Poster
Here's the new title font Anike 2007... It appears that Tok preferred the original to be changed... Too "Romeo & Juliet", he said... Let me know what you guys think of this and the accompanying poster below... Mmm... perhaps a t-shirt with "Anike" printed on it would be nice... Anyone?
Note: the hanging man is hardly visible in the background, suspended between the "A" and the "k"...
posted by Alang at 5:23 PM
8 comments
Contributors
Links
Previous Posts
- The Art of Anike
- Anike teaser trailer...
- Costume profile: Yasmine
- More pics of Anike in Penang
- Another Anike link...
- Backstage and preparatory shots... The untold story!
- Photos of Anike in Penang
- Comment on Anike in KL (sent in to me by email)
- Anike in Star Hill.... Part Two
- Anike in Star Hill...
Archives
- July 2006
- August 2006
- September 2006
- November 2006
- December 2006
- January 2007
- February 2007
- March 2007
- June 2007
